Jerusalem-Day 2

Saturday morning we enjoyed sleeping late and not feeling we had any place to go (except breakfast at the hotel). We were then excited to find out that the Israel Museum http://www.english.imjnet.org.il/htmls/home.aspx was indeed open and it wasn’t that far a walk from the hotel. Off we went pass a nice park and amazingly found the museum without much trouble. The museum was huge, but luckily came with an audio guide. We spent quite a few hours there. The main exhibit we saw was about the early historical periods. The exhibit was a bit confusing so we spent wound up walking back and forth in different directions of time as we struggled to figure out the route. The Judaica stuff was really neat too. Three old synagogues were moved to the museum. My favorite one came from Suriname where it was customary to have sand on the floor. There were all sorts of old religious items and sections on the different holidays. Outside the museum we saw the “Ahava” sculpture. Ahava means love, so this sculpture mimics the famous “LOVE” sculpture. There is also a model of the Second Temple on the grounds (however since we learned so much about the Temples the day before we only look briefly at it). The Shrine of the Book is also included in admission, so we went in there to look at the Dead Sea Scrolls. It was pretty crowded and dark, so we didn’t see much. After that we headed back to the hotel for a leftover lunch.

After a bit of a rest we headed back out to explore. We were looking for the large menorah near the Knesset (the Israeli House of Representatives). It wasn’t that far a walk from the hotel. We came across a group of French-speaking tourists, one whom was nice enough to take our photo in front of the menorah. I’m curious to see the pictures on his camera. We wondered through a rose garden, but there weren’t many roses in bloom. Returning to the hotel it was time to find a place for dinner. We decided on a Kosher Argentinean Steak House located near Ben-Yehuda St. We had quite a bit of trouble finding the restaurant, but we eventually made it. Unfortunately they had one out of the steak kabobs Shira was interested in trying so she had chicken, but I had a very nice steak. The waiter was quite patient with us as we navigated through the menu (since Shira and I are not steakhouse connoisseurs). After dinner we were amazed to find how lively Ben Yeduda St. was at 11pm. Lots of Purim merriment. We didn’t stay out too late, because we had a big day ahead of us. 

Jerusalem Day Two Photos

Jerusalem-Day 1

Waking up in Jerusalem we had another good breakfast full of salad, vegetables, cheese, and chocolate pudding. Then it was off to the Jaffa Gate. Some really incredible anonymous person gifted Shira and me a tour of Jerusalem (if that person is reading this…THANKS!). We got a little lost and realized we left our cell phone back at the hotel, but eventually met up with our tour guide Ayal. Off we went to the City of David. We learned that the City of David is actually located just outside the walls of the current Old City. Check out the link for the City of David for a virtual tour and bunch of other cool information about the city:  http://www.cityofdavid.org.il/about_eng.asp. Ayal explained to us the difference between the minimist and maximist archeologist. The minimist believe that the City of David has lots of really old stuff at it, but may or may not have belonged to King David, while the maximist believe based on Bilblical references this is indeed the palace of King David. Seals from the period of Jeremiah have been found in the ruins, so everyone agrees that this is a very old important place. One of the highlights is walking through the water tunnel of King Hezekiah. The king built this tunnel to help protect Jerusalem from the Nebachanezzer and his invading army. From the Gihon Spring to the water tunnel to the Shiloah Pool this is how the people at the time of the First Temple got water. While the road connecting the Shiloah Pool to the Temple Mount has not been completed excavated you can get a good picture of the time period. We walked through King Hezekiah’s tunnel where the water got up to my thigh in some parts and could see the different direction of the pick axes depending on what side of the tunnel we were on. Two different groups worked long and hard until they met each other in the middle. Pretty good for a group of people lacking walkie-talkies, GPS coordination, etc. Since the road is not completely connected yet, we walked through a local neighborhood back to the Dung Gate to the South Wall Excavation site. We couldn’t walk through the entire area as it was almost noon on Friday and the parts closest to the Temple Mount were closed to allow the Muslims to pray. It was impressive to hear the calls to prayer and the chanting. Along the South Wall is an excavated street and Robinson’s Arch. Many Conservative Bnai Mitzvot are taking place in this area where and men and women can participate in the service equally. Robinson’s Arch was named for the Edward Robinson, an American, who discovered it in 1838. During the Temple period a large path of stairs lead up to the Temple from the street. One of the carving in the stones along the South Wall talks about the trumpet signaling the start of Shabbat. To this day a siren still sounds in Jerusalem giving warning that Shabbat is about to start and another siren when it actually starts. There was a small museum here complete with a little movie explaining how a pilgrim came to the Temple to make a sacrifice. http://www.biblewalks.com/Sites/SouthernWall.html

After all this walking we were hungry and headed to the Jewish Quarter for something to eat. We found a pizza place that actually had very good pizza. We walked around the Jewish Quarter learning about the Hurva Synagogue. http://www.sacred-destinations.com/israel/jerusalem-hurva-synagogue This synagogue has been built, destroyed, and rebuilt many times. For the longest time the government decided to leave it in its destroyed state as a reminder, buy in the 2000s it was rebuilt. We walked through the Armenian Quarter and learned that the Armenians had been very nice to the Crusaders which is why they got their own quarter and that there was a set number of Armenians that lived there.

After leaving the Old City, we walked to the Mahane Yehuda Market. Apparently this is the place to be on Friday afternoon to prepare for Shabbat. Fruits, vegetables, Challah, cookies, spices, etc. It was even busier than Shop Rite. It was pretty overwhelming, so we brought a bouquet of flowers to bring to Shabbat dinner and headed back to the hotel to prepare for Shabbat. Sitting in the garden of our hotel were able to hear the Shabbat siren. It was then off for a really great Shabbat dinner at the home of my cousins. It was a very festive meal, since we it was also the lead in for Purim. I was especially excited by the dessert of sorbet made from the sabra fruit. 

Here are a bunch of photos from the first day in Jerusalem: Jerusalem Day One Photos

Galilee and Beyond

We made it back to Haifa, got our luggage and discovered that there are two bus stops in Haifa one going North and one going South (where we took the bus to Caeserea). To go to Tiberius we need the other bus stop which is definitely not a tourist attraction. We made it safely on the bus and to Tiberius. We got to our hotel just in time to enjoy the tail end of the hotel’s dinner buffet. After breakfast (another really good buffet) the next morning we met our tour guide, Zvika, for a tour of areas in the Galilee. It turned out to be a private tour for just Shira and me. We headed northwest for a hike up Mt. Meron, which was Israel’s tallest peak prior to 1967. We saw snow on Mt. Hermon, Israeli’s ski resort. There were a number of school groups visiting Mt. Meron. We learned that Israeli schools travel with arm guards due to attacks in the past against school children. From the East lookout we could see Lebanon and Syria as well as the some beautiful landscape. The hike along Mt. Meron was one of my favorite parts of the trip. We came across a group of young people who were following the tradition of hiking across Israel (sort of like hiking the Appalachian Trail). After Mt. Meron we went to Safed, home to some really old synagogues and religious history (most notably Kabbalah). We had a nice time discuss Jewish history in the synagogue dating back to Rabbi Joseph Karo, author of the Shulkan Aurech (a book that helps to interpret the Jewish Law dating back to the mid-1500s). Because of the hard ground the Jews could not bury old books underground, so they put the books in an above ground Geniza. We also saw the differences between synagogues of Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jews. One of the big ones is the seating arrangements. In a Sephardic congregation the seats are around the sides so people can face each other, while in Ashkenazi there are rows of seats. In order to ensure everyone entering the sanctuaries had proper attire the synagogues offered paper-kippot. In the Ashkenazi sanctuary our short sleeves were too short, so we had to wear one of the provided shawls. There is an artist colony in Safed where jewelers, painters, sculptures, etc make some very beautiful work.

After Safed we headed along the picturesque countryside, passing an area that our tour guide pointed out was destroyed during the most recent Lebanon missile strikes, but the community help replant trees and make it green again. Our destination was the tomb of Rabbi Yonatan ben Uzziel. Tradition holds that unmarried people who visit the tomb will find their beloved within the next year. It was a popular place with bus-loads of young women arriving and praying away. According to the tour guide he has been invited to two weddings and one of my fellow congregants said it worked for his child. I will let you all know…

Next was an “Israeli Lunch” of hummus and stuff. Pickles and pickled vegetables were quite popular. Our waiter was a Bedouin, getting ready to move to Finland to join his brother in seeking a better future. I had the hummus and schwarmma with falafel, French fries, and more. It was quite good and very filling.

We returned to the Sea of Galilee (or the Kinneret) and Tiberias. Earlier we learned that the sea level has dropped about 13ft. We drove through a kibbutz that specialized in growing bananas and had boats that were FAR away from the shore, but had been closer. We drove around Tiberias a bit before being dropped off at the bus station. This station had a little convenience store and it was still daylight, so it wasn’t as scary as Haifa. We managed to find the bus to Jerusalem along with a large number of soldiers. We would later learn that Thursdays are not a great day to travel because that is when the soldiers get to go home from Shabbat. It was a LONG trip over three hours, but luckily Shira and I had seats. There were many people standing/sitting/lying in the aisles. The saving grace of the trip was that there was free wi-fi on the bus. While it was dark on the trip I got to see some road signs, including Modin (home of the Macabees). When I finally spotted the sign for Jerusalem I was super-excited. Although it was hard to tell if it was the awe of Jerusalem or I was just glad to be almost off the bus. We arrived at the Jerusalem Central Bus Station and were very happy to find our luggage still on the bus (it was really crowded when we put it on and as more people joined I was concerned someone might make room bus tossing it off). Security was tight getting into the bus station with a metal detector and an x-ray machine for bags. We found a taxi and got to our hotel, Little House in Rechavia. We asked for dinner recommendations and wound up at “The Coffee Shop” where we again got a HUGE meal. I had a salad that could feed a whole community. Shira had a tuna melt that was on large pieces of bread. We didn’t realize bread came that big. It was then back to the hotel room complete with free wifi preparing for our first day in Jerusalem.

Pictures

Day 1 and 2 in Israel

Many of you want to  know about my trip to Israel and asked if I’ve taking pictures. Be careful of what you ask because you might get it. I took over 1300 pictures, but am going to weed them down and share them in stages:

We flew El Al since it was my first trip to Israel. El Al is known for safety and we got a glimpse of it right off the back. Even before we hit the check-in counter we were greeted by El Al employees and asked a number of questions included why was I going to Israel? Do I know anyone in Israel? How do I know them? Do I know Hebrew? Where did I learn it? Etc. Shira and I passed and move through the rest of check in and security without a problem. The plane was late taking off, but according to my mom that is part of the El Al mystique of never publishing the real time they are taking off (I think they were just late). We arrived and made it through everything (lots more question and answer time), exchanged money, and managed to find a train.

Haifa was the major British port. The train station is near the port and we stayed at the Port Inn which actually was near the train station. The hotel was a combination hostel and hotel they have dormitories and private rooms. We opted for the private room it was sparse, but comfortable. After a nice shower it was time for an early dinner in Haifa. Luckily there were plenty of food choices within walking distances. We opted for Havana Plus as it had a decently priced English menu. Apparently the restaurant’s main specialty was hookahs, we had pasta. It was very good. After a long struggle we managed to stay awake until almost 9pm in attempt to counter jet-lag.

The hotel provided a great breakfast highlighted by an awesome chocolate spread and some healthy stuff too. We then headed for the Carmelit, Haifa’s subway. Shira being the cable-car connoisseur discovered that it was an underground cable car. It definitely was the coolest subway system we’ve seen. The subway took us to the center of Haifa completed with some great views. We wondered around for awhile up and down some hills. We found a cool sculpture garden and then a little café for a chocolate croissant (a very chocolate day). Apparently 1100 is a prime time for a mid-morning snack as there were no seats. We then found the entrance to the Baha’i Garden in time for the English tour. For more information on the Baha’i check out their website: Bahai. We learned that Haifa is the world headquarters for the faith and that Baha’i followers come for pilgrimages (we met a few at the hotel later that day). The garden is very beautiful and offered some really nice views of Haifa.

After the tour we took a taxi to the cable cars for another view of Haifa. The ride was much shorter than expected, but it made for a good story and took us to a nice place for lunch. Although Shira learned that being “healthy” isn’t always the best option, when she opted out of sugar in her “apple juice.” After lunch we went to the Clandestine Immigration and Navy Museum (my wish as I’m a big fan of Leon Uris’ Exodus).  It was a little bit of a challenge to find the entrance, but we did and were greeted by a surprise; not only did the security guy want to see our passports he scanned through to see all the places we had visited. We obviously weren’t too scary, so we were let in and had a good visit. I’m looking forward to using the material I found for my students. The museum features the ship Af-Al-Pi-Chen which was used to go through British blockade following World War II. We also learned that neither Shira or I want to spend much time on a submarine.

After the museum we walked along the beach and found some pretty cool exercise equipment. Since we had done so much walking, we figured we could get a little upper body in as well. The weather was nice and we made back to the hotel to sit in the garden for a bit. We took the Carmalit back up the hill for dinner at a Kosher Chinese Restaurant (the food was good, but the highlight was the free wifi!) We amazed ourselves by navigating the Carmalit and returning to the hotel without getting lost!

Here is the link to the pictures: Haifa photos